He was frustrating with his final ball and decision making but his potential was massive. You don’t get a 6’4 athlete who can eat the field up like Diaby with his first touch and close control. If he got his final ball down with increased experience/playing time he could have been better than Yaya Toure. It never happened but massive potential ruined by an assassins challenge.
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I’ll try, Lacazette might be unfair because he’s younge and in a different league but sure.
It was something like 15 games but no idea Re: minutes, I couldn’t see that.
Also known as 2 and half months of misery for Mesut Ozil.
883 according to the same source.
He actually didn’t score in the league from January to May 2016. 16 games
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Jesus. Really? WOW… was he injured? thats ridiculous and hilarious.
Now, could you imagine the numbers with a higher class of striker. This is why fans are frustrated. We have had a solid squad other than a excellent striker for many years.
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Haha,
Jesus christ, though tbh it felt longer.
It’s a shame because now, in the transfer window that Wenger has decided to really go and get the goal scorer we have waited so long for, we will probably lose the players that would have benefited most from a world class striker.
Giroud is a very good player but an elite striker, playing in front of Ozil, Sanchez and Cazorla would have seen us a lot stronger, and probably would have beaten Leicester to the PL title.
It would have also seen us still in the CL.
I maintain that we would have won the league the year we sold RVP if we had kept him on top of Pod/Grod/Santi.
Such a wasted opportunity to put the finishing touches on a team.
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So I looked at the numbers for Lacazette, Costa, Suarez, Aguero and RvP.
Costa has only been at Chelsea for 3 seasons, Suarez at Liverpool for 3.5 seasons and I took RvP’s last 5 seasons in England. Lacazetta I did analysis for his last 4 and 5 seasons, his numbers changing slightly because his season when he was 21 had less minutes and appearances so I’ve done both.
Aguero
205 games, 139 goals with 39 assists (178 direct involvement) in 15,230 minutes.
15,230 / 178 = 86 minutes per goal
Suarez
133 games, 82 goals with 53 assists (135) in 11,324 minutes.
11,324 / 135 = 83 minutes per goal
Van Persie
188 games, 119 goals with 42 assists (161) in 14,557 minutes.
14,557 / 161 = 90 minutes per goal
Costa
120 games, 58 goals with 24 assists (82) in 9,794 minutes.
9,794 / 82 = 119 minutes per goal
Lacazette
Last 4 seasons:
183 games, 113 goals and 35 assists (148) in 15,097 minutes.
15,097 / 148 = 102 minutes per goal
Last 5 seasons:
220 games, 117 goals with 45 assists (162) in 17,857 minutes.
17,857 / 162 = 110 minutes per goal
Obviously pinch of salt with Lacazette as he’s only played in Ligue 1 and regardless of what people say I do believe that the Premier League is harder and a higher level than Ligue 1.
In any case, I feel like Giroud’s 107 minutes per goal is really good but that Van Persie, Suarez and Aguero are clearly on another level above Giroud’s. Still, I don’t think Giroud’s 107 is bad at all in any way shape or form and I’m sure if you measured him against other strikers in the PL apart from arguably the Top 3 of the last 10 years he wouldn’t fall short.
Don’t forget that we’ve won 3 FA Cup finals with him at the top, getting assists and a goal in each final. So he’s not been all bad and he actually comes ahead of Costa.
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Lukaku
The last 5 seaons (bearing in mind he’s much younger):
207 games, 104 goals with 36 assists (140) in 16,285 minutes.
16,285 / 140 = 116 minutes per goal.
So Giroud comes out better than Lukaku but Giroud’s older and arguably plays for a better team. Lukaku has been increasing his numbers year on year without fail except for assists - he gets 7 assists in 4 seasons and 8 in one haha
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My girlfriend’s been making fun of me for taking the time to do this haha but she watches the Kardashian’s so I feel like she’s in no position to judge me 
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SO to round up.
He’s better than Lukaku and Costa, but worse than Aguero. He comes behind RvP and Suarez but they don’t even play in the Premier League any more. I won’t compare him to Ibra since he only played one season and has left. Who else is there to compare him to?
Liverpool don’t really have a main striker, have goals coming from all over the pitch. It’s unfair to compare him to Southampton/WBA/West Ham/Swansea/other mid-level to low-level teams.
Arguably going by the minutes ratio, he’s currently the second best striker in the league (going by minutes per goal over the last few seasons) which is a comment on the lack of good strikers in the PL as well to be fair.
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Costa’s constant fuckery per minute is much higher though and see’s his menacing style lend itself better to a league campaign.
Costa’s a massive cunt be he is instrumental in helping Chelsea perform, honestly can’t wait to see him go.
10/10 effort. Thanks for that buddy! Fascinating to see such a clear gap between Aguero/Suarez/RVP vs Giroud and especially Costa.
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You could basically attach the final ball and decision making to a whole heap of good athletes who are football players and suddenly they’d be transformed into world beaters. Could you imagine people like Sterling and Walcott with excellent decision making and final balls? The list of players who would be if they had those traits is endless.
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OptaCristo destroying the anti-Giroud mob with ruthless efficiency, joyous stuff 
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